The line between conversational content and advertising is blurred, if not gone altogether, thanks to the rise of social media. But perhaps even less clear than the goal of the content is the question of who will ultimately control the revenue from social media advertising.

A recent Ad Age article wonders who will ultimately end up controlling the massive amounts of money at stake in the social media advertising game. Paid social media promotion is coming whether agencies, old-school and new-school alike, are ready for it. The reality is that in order to capitalize on social media integration in advertising, only the companies that truly understand social and business will be able to adapt.

In this video, we discuss the changing world of social media advertising, and who could be best positioned to jump on it.

Professional sports are the perfect arena for content creation around events. Every single game night, a professional sports team has a built-in opportunity for content creation. Loyal fans can never get enough of the games their favorite teams play, and they’re hungry for supplemental content to enhance their connection with the teams.

It makes sense to create content for an event that people will physically attend and meet up at. But what should your web content creation approach be for virtual events?

While it may seem like there may be drastically different strategies for the two types of event, the content development around the events is actually quite similar. One recent example of a virtual event that nailed the concept of creating content and driving engagement before, during and after was Madonna’s album release event with Jimmy Fallon. Madonna solicited questions from her fans leading up to the event, interacted with them live during it, and left them with a video to live on and re-watch once the event ended, all as part of an exclusive live interview on Facebook & Livestream that the vast majority of people could only attend virtually.

In this conversation, we look at how Madonna pulled this off, and the lessons you can learn from this virtual event content creation example.

The biggest shift in 2012 will be bridging of online to offline in social media. O2O is now a integrated interconnected cross-connected strategy that fits well with each other and if you are not utilizing it you will be missing out in the new year.

To finish up my series on the B2B social media predictions for 2012 I stress why online and offline are critical for any size business and what you must do in both spaces.

Twitter will be going away in 2012…for social media. Just simply look at the elements that are being tweeted the most, photos, articles, and videos. The conversations are moving away from Twitter and becoming more of a broadcast medium. Businesses need to understand this shift and change accordingly.

Social media is no longer just a B2C play; more and more businesses are on board and utilizing B2B social media marketing to generate leads and increase sales. But as social media usage grows and the platforms change, so will its uses. During the New Year, I came across an article on Social Media B2B.com delivering 12 B2B social media predictions for 2012:

B2B Websites Become the Ultimate Social Destination

Blogging Accepted as Hub of B2B Social Media Success

Social Media Lead Generation Taken Seriously

Email Grows Despite Its Reported Demise

B2B Marketers Expand Social Media Followers

Social Media Treehuggers Lie Down in Front of Bulldozers

Measurement of ROI Can No Longer Be Ignored

Mobile Strategies Catch Up to Reality

It is the Beginning of the End for Twitter as a Social Network

Social Media Advertising Gets Results

Social Media Adoption No Longer Driven by Hobbyists

Social Media Supports Offline Activities

Here’s my advice in response to the two predictions focusing on social media as a hub:

Content marketing is all about putting the right content in the right channel at the right time and to do that you need to engage everywhere. What makes digital content so fantastic for marketers is social media and its ability to amplify your product through you and your advocates. Just look at the top of one Chris Brogan article and you will see all the ways he engages with his audience and in turn shares with them.

Learn some of the helpful tips I have picked up over the years to engage everywhere in the video below.

Has your conference flat-lined? Are you not reaching the younger generation community members? How are you engaging with them before, during and after the event? In this webcast, Rick Quinn, GM of Event Marketing Platform at The Pulse Network, gives you ten actionable tips to creating a kick-ass marketing campaign.